“An expert examination of Armstrong’s blood parameters established that the likelihood of Armstrong’s blood values from the 2009 and 2010 Tours de France occurring naturally is less than one in a million, and build a compelling argument consistent with blood doping.”

*What we need to know:*

If Armstrong did not dope then why were his blood value levels deemed positive?

Usada and Wada took 38 blood samples from him between Oct 16 2008 and April 30 2012 as part of their “blood passport” testing system.

Professor Christopher Gore, head of physiology at the Australian Institute of Sport, concluded he had an unusually low percentage of reticulocytes [immature red blood cells created by the body] in seven samples and unusual blood plasma levels.

During the first seven days of the 2009 Tour de France this is what happened to Armstrong’s blood but over the next three days it returned to pre-race levels.

Armstrong will be aware of the eight year statute of limitations under the Wada code.

His previous offences fall outside this.

The comeback does not, leaving him facing further legal battles if he admitted doping.

2. How widespread and sophisticated was his network of doping?

*What Lance told Oprah*

"It was definitely professional. It was definitely smart, if you can call it that but it was very conservative, very risk averse, very aware ... that one race mattered for me.

"But to say that the program was bigger than the East German doping program in the 80s, 70s and 80s, that's not true.”

*What Usada said*

*The evidence shows beyond any doubt that the US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team ran the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping program that sport has ever seen.

"The USPS Team conspiracy was professionally designed to groom and pressure athletes to use dangerous drugs, to evade detection, to ensure its secrecy and ultimately gain an unfair competitive advantage through superior doping practices.”

*What we need to know:*

Armstrong came clean and admitted he doped but he did not name names.

He did not elaborate on any of the evidence in the Usada report.

He admitted he used the services of ‘Motoman’, the courier paid to drop off EPO in the 1999 Tour de France but did not reveal his true identity.

He admitted Emma O’Reilly was correct is saying a backdated prescription covered up a failed test in 1999 but was not asked why the authorities accepted it so readily.

Of Dr Michele Ferrari he only went as far as to describe him as a good man and revealed nothing of his doping which Usada say continued into 2009.

Email evidence proved he remained in contact with Armstrong during this period.

Armstrong gave nothing away about team managers and backroom staff who helped smuggle drugs or organise transfusions in hotel rooms around Europe.

Nine riders provided affidavits about the doping practises of Dr Luis Garcia del Moral, who worked with USPS team between 1999-2003, but Armstrong was not asked about him.

Christian Vande Velde said, del Moral “would run into the room and you would quickly find a needle in your arm.”

Investigators will want information about Dr Pedro Celaya, the USPS team doctor from 1997-1999 and 2004-05, and accused by Usada of being an “active participant in the doping.”

3. Did the International Cycling Union help to suppress a positive result from the 2001 Tour de Suisse in return for a $100,000 donation from Armstrong?

*What Lance told Oprah:*

"It was not an exchange for any cover up. I am not a fan of the UCI.

"I have every incentive to say yes that was right, they are all crooked.

"There were things that were a little shady but that was not one of them.

"There was no positive test. There was no paying off the lab. There was no secret meeting with the lab director.”

*What Usada said:*

“Armstrong told both Tyler Hamilton and Floyd Landis that he had tested positive for EPO at the 2001 Tour of Switzerland and stated or implied that he had been able to make the EPO test result go away.”

*What we need to know*

Armstrong is accusing Hamilton and Landis of lying.

In 2001 Hamilton claims Armstrong told him “his people had been in touch with UCI, they were going to have a meeting and everything was going to be OK.”

Landis told Federal investigators that a year later Armstrong told him:

“he and Mr Bruyneel [Armstrong’s team manager] flew to the UCI headquarters and made a financial agreement to keep the positive test hidden.”

Investigators will want him to explain these comments and his relationship with Hein Verbruggen, the head of the UCI at the time, who had business interests with Armstrong’s team owner.

It has been claimed the donation was to help pay for anti-doping.

Why would a governing body turn to an athlete for a donation?

Was he the only rider who paid up or did others?

4. *Did the 1996 hospital room confession to doping take place as Betsy Andreu testified to federal investigation in 2005 and Usada?

*What Lance told Oprah:*

"I'm not going to take that on. I'm laying down on that one."

*What Usada said:*

“The hospital room confession is significant for other reasons than proving that Lance Armstrong’s doping began more than a decade and a half ago.

"Mr Armstrong’s response to the incident once it was publicly exposed provides insight into his tactics in addressing potential witnesses who dared to come forward with evidence of his doping.”

*What we need to know:*

The incident proves how Armstrong suppressed the truth and prevented those with evidence against him from coming forward which in turn helped continue his deception.

He failed to say sorry to Betsy Andreu and weirdly would only confirm he did not call her “fat”, once again keeping his enemies at arm’s length.

Perhaps he did not want to contradict his doctor, Craig Nichols, who provided sworn testimony that he did not ask about doping.

Nichols is now a board member on Livestrong, Armstrong’s foundation which made a donation to Indiana University when it established a fellowship in his honour.